Bye bye cleavage piercing-and a warning against them

By Anonymous · Jan. 23, 2007

So my favourite piercing is now gone,and while I am sad I am SO RELIEVED to have that horrible thing out of me!

It all started last December, when I wanted to get my first surface piercing. I already have several facial piercings and my nipples,so wasn't worried about the pain or anything. After seeing a cleavage piercing on BME,I decided that was what I wanted as my favourite body part is my boobs-anything that draws more attention there can't be bad!!

The mistake I made was getting a fairly new surface piercer to do them-he was had done corsetry,wrist,finger and chest piercing but not cleavage specifically.Stupid me agrees to let my cleavage be the guinea pig-silly I know but I had seen pics of his other surface work after it had healed and it looked great,centered and just deep enough,with surface bars rather than barbells or rings.

So he marked it up nicely,popped the needle through(one of my least painful piercings apart from bellybutton and ears) pulled through the surface staple and there we were. It looked great, with two jewelled beads on the ends.It also drew a lot of attention,as no one had seen that piercing around Sydney (which can be quite conservative as far as piercing goes)

It took about two months to heal fully,with a lot of crustiness around both holes. I also had to be really careful that my long hair didn't tangle in it and I didn't bump it accidentally.Bumping it really,really,really hurt and was amazingly easy to do.Before getting the piercing I laughed off worries about knocking it,thinking that area rarely came into contact with anything.How wrong I was! My dog bumped it,my boyfriend couldn't hug me tight to his chest anymore, I couldn't play some sports like beach volleyball cause it got bumped and was agonising!

After about five months a small pink bump filled with pus developed around the bottom hole,despite my best efforts to keep it clean. This bump looked like a wart,was very painful,and would not go away until I took antibiotics from my doctor.Then it went away for a while,but would come back with no seeming trigger.I have since found out stress can be a factor-wish I knew that then! So this bump would fill with pus, I'd clean it and clean it,then the pus would drain,I'd clean it more,it would go away for a while but it would always come back despire my best efforts.It looked awful too,and was not in a great place for a pus-filled wart-looking thing!(although I suppose where is?)

Sadly this was the beginning of the end. Although this infection cleared up, I developed infections again a few times due to bumping in my sleep,hair getting caught in the crusties etc,and it began to reject.I could feel the bar through my skin much more,where before it was just a vague lump,and it began to hurt me to make sudden movements with my upper body (something you do quite a lot!)

My piercer recommended putting in a bar with shorter ends to slow rejection. So he replaced the bar with a catheter, then inserted the jewellery through that.Changing surface bars is quite the procedure,and was more hurty than the actual piercing.

Big mistake.If anything rejects,TAKE IT OUT STRAIGHT AWAY!!! Don't try and save it,it'll only get worse,which will make the scarring worse as well.

For about a month the shorter bar slowed the rejection,while the site was still looking angry and inflamed. This is despite rigorous cleaning and attention to diet and hygiene.

Then we moved house,and I ripped a 3mm slit in the bottom hole while moving my laundry basket (it got caught in the wire mesh)

OWWWWW!! Blood everywhere and much,much pain. I then just wanted it out but it was too painful to even touch.This made the piercing scream "OUT,OUT,OUT!!" and it began rejecting in earnest.I developed another pink pus-filled lump this time on the top hole,and the middle where the bar was was marked with red on my skin.

As soon as it was OK to touch,I took it out myself without waiting to go to a studio. Sweet relief!!I have a really bad scar though which I hope fades as it's in a very visible spot.It was amazing how that particular piercing impacted my daily life without me even realising, and that is my basis for warning against it.

The position of a cleavage piercing makes it extremely prone to accidental bumping,and because the skin is so thin once bumped it starts rejecting straight away. Another piercer has told me he doesn't recommend them for girls with large breasts (like yours truly) because when you sleep on your back the skin is pulled taut,practically forcing the piercing to reject.

It is a beautiful piercing but think VERY hard before getting it.Can you live with a scar right there if it goes wrong? Are you willing to take the extreme care necessary so it won't get bumped?

Best of luck to all those who get one in the future and hope it doesn't end up like mine! :(

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